1. Field of the Invention
Reflected beam antenna assemblies.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Design situations occur in which it is desirable to utilize a single beam-forming reflector with two different simultaneously available feed means. It would seem logical to place one feed means beside the other, but this tends to degrade the utility of the main beam by producing large sidelobes during transmission and imperfection in focusing during reception.
Techniques for cancelling or reducing the sidelobes of an antenna system exist in the form of electronic circuitry, but this tends to add complexity and cost to the system and is of limited effectiveness. A preliminary novelty search conducted in the United States Patent and Trademark Office with respect to the present invention has uncovered the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 3,290,684; 3,412,405; 3,435,453; 3,495,249; 3,568,193; 3,763,490; 3,900,874; 3,916,325; and 3,938,153. All of these patents except No. 3,763,490, disclose forms of cancellation and suppression of sidelobes by circuitry techniques. The U.S. Pat. No. 3,763,490 deals with beam forming rather than sidelobe control. None of these patents relate to solving an offset-feed sidelobe problem for which cancellation techniques alone are inadequate.